News from Our Classroom

         Hello.  I would like to thank all of those families who made it to our "Open House" night this past Wednesday night from 6 - 7pm.  Yes, it was about a week earlier than last year,  but that makes sense. The real purpose of "Open House" is to provide you with the opportunity to visit your child's classroom to meet his/her teacher and to see what he/she has been doing, and you want to do that before the year has progressed too far.
         I started the assessment process on this past Thursday and Friday by checking your child's sight word knowledge.  That is something that I could do with all of the children in the classroom.  I will be checking their beginning DRA level for this year during this upcoming week, and that's not really something I can do with other children around.  If one child listens to stories being read by other children, they tend to remember what they have heard, especially if they hear it more than once.  So their own reading test becomes invalid because it's possible that they will remember what they have heard.  To prevent this, and to insure that I am getting your child's TRUE reading level, I will have a Sub on Thursday morning to "run" my classroom while I take individuals right next door the next for their independent assessment.  I had hoped that I could get this testing done before Thursday, but with the practice "Lock Down Drill" on Tuesday, and our Reading NWEA test on Wednesday morning,  it seemed that Thursday would be the better day to have a sub.
       Please note: Your child has his/her NWEA (computerized) assessments this coming Wednesday  9/13 (for Reading) at 9:20 am, and on next Monday (9/18) (for Math) at that same time.  There not much you can do to prepare your child for these assessments, other than to let him/her know that they are coming, make sure they have a good night's rest the night before and a good breakfast the morning of the exam, and tell them that all you want is for him/her to TRY TO DO HIS/HER "BEST". The results of these assessments will be shared with you, and, when combined with the sight word assessments and DRAs that I have given, will help me to place your child at a reading level (and in a reading group) that is JUST RIGHT for him/her.
        Today, when your child's homework comes home, it will include a packet of 10 cards--these are your child's sight words for the week.  Over the next few weeks, we will be reviewing/rehearsing the 35 words your child is REQUIRED to learn by the end of the first grade.  (Your child may already know some/ all of these words.  If they can easily read them, then have them practice SPELLING them.  They will also have to be able to spell them by the end of the year. ) Please shuffle them and have your child practice reading them for a few minutes every night.  I will also be working on these same words during the day, so hopefully when your child is assessed on them on Friday morning, he or she will be able to read them aloud.  The cards that come home are your child's to keep--please do not send them back in to school.  Keep them somewhere, because today's "sight words" will be words to learn how to spell when First Grade starts spelling work in January or February.   In about two weeks, once we are done with the little fairy tale/ folktale stories that have been coming home, your child will be bringing a "little reader" home Monday through Thursday.  Unlike the fairy tale books that have been coming home those books will be AT your child's reading level, so they are to be read BY HIM OR HER.  This will allow your child to practice reading---do NOT read them for /to him/her.  Most of these stories are FAMILIAR texts (ones we have read together already in class), but there will occasionally be UNFAMILIAR texts (we have not read that title together).  The books will be in "baggies" that are clearly marked as FAMILIAR and UNFAMILIAR.  The FAMILIAR books should be books your child is rereading to you with little difficulty.  The UNFAMILIAR books, however, will appear to be more difficult because we have not practiced reading them together.  However, they are still AT his or her reading level, so PLEASE DO NOT  READ THEM to your child --he or she should be reading them to YOU.  PLEASE DO NOT KEEP THE BOOKS FOR MORE THAN ONE NIGHT AT A TIME.  I HAVE A LIMITED NUMBER OF READING TEXTS, AND EVERY KID IS GOING TO READ THEM AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER, SO I NEED TO KEEP THE TEXTS CIRCULATING.  Your help with the circulation is greatly appreciated.
       We started working on Penmanship last week by practicing our numbers 0-10.  I started there first so that the children would be able to start writing numbers for Math class without practicing INCORRECTLY forming them.  The numbers are supposed to go from the top line to the bottom lines on our paper.    Next, we will concentrate on the children's first and last names written correctly within the three-line system.  In general, all capital letters will fill the space for all three lines, while the lowercase letters sit within different locations, depending on the letter.  This coming week, we will do penmanship every day (except Friday) for 20 minutes:  On Monday, the children will do the numbers from 6 -10.  On Tuesday and Thursday, the children will work on their first and last names.  On Wednesday, we will start with the letter Aa.   After this coming week, we will only have Penmanship two times a week, and writing class will happen the other three times.  Our first writing goals are to make sentences that have SOMEONE or SOMETHING  doing something.  The children should be starting to learn that all sentences begin with a capital letter, end with a punctuation mark, and have adequate spacing between words. Those are our first writing goals.  For the month of September we will only work on creating "stories" of from 2-4 sentences, but really focus on these "convention" goals.  At the beginning of October, we will continue to work on these writing convention goals while developing our writing stamina to be able to write longer pieces.  At that time, we will also focus on staying on one topic for our whole writing piece.
       In Math, we have been working on being able to recognize a quantity without having to count out each and every item in the set.  Think of it like dice patterns:   You know the dice pattern of five is five without having to "count all of the pips".  Being able to know "how much" without having to count out all of the parts is called "subitizing".  Research is revealing that kids who can "subitize" well are better able to "think mathematically" while they group and regroup numbers. They are able to visualize quantities in their "mind's eye".   They are better able to learn their math facts, and to understand mathematical concepts.  To see what I am talking about when I say "subitizing",   you might want to watch this four minute video on youtube: 
                                        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFcXHhV5sI0
We have been practicing dot patterns, tally marks, showing numbers on our fingers,  and have worked with a new tool called a "rekenrek" this past week.  For information on rekenreks and why we will use them, you can watch this 13 minute video:
                                        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp_ogl2iH_Q 
Graham Fletcher is a pro with using the rekenrek, and a picture (video) is worth a thousand words.  In addition to learning about "subitizing" and ten frame fills, your child will be working on patterning.  By mid-October, he or she will need to pass an evaluation in which he or she can identify AND create various patterns using their alphabetical identifying lables:(like AB, AAB, ABB, ABC, AABB).  We will build lots of patterns and work on providing their "labels".  In addition to all of this, we are also working on learning "calendar" information--the days of the week, the months of the year, and how a "day" is different from a "date box".  We have an assessment on our calendar knowledge coming up next month, too.  Your child will be expected to be able to identify day and month names, and put them in order.
         This next week is "apple week!"  We will read books about apples, write our own stories about apples, make apple art, do math using apples, and learn all about the apple life cycle.  Yeah for apples!
         Don't forget--we have "LOCK DOWN DRILL" on Tuesday, and our first NWEA test week (Reading) on Wednesday at 9:20, and I will have a sub Thursday morning so I can do DRAs.  Next week, we will have another NWEA (Math) on Monday at 9:30), and School Photos Day on Friday (9/15) in the morning.   Have a wonderful weekend!